Method of making articles of varicolored plastic materials



May l5, 1923.

H. N. MICHAELSEN METHOD 0F MAKING ARTICLES 0F vARIcoLoRED PLASTIC MATERIALS Filed Jan. 7, 1920 INVENTOR 'I HAROLD N. MICHAELSSN ATTORNEY Patented May l5, 1923.

Price.

HAROLD N. MICHAELSEN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO RAWSON ELECTRICAL INSTRUMENT COMPANY,

CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, A

METHOD OF MAKING ARTICLES OF VARICOLORED PLASTIC MATERIALS.

Application filed January 7, 1920. Serial No. 350,018.

a new homogeneous composition of matter of the above-described character.

With this and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel method of making the composition of matter hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and defined in the appended claim.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional View of a mold with ingredients contained therein illustrating the method of the present invention; Fig. 2 is'a similar view illustrating another step in the method; Fig. 3 .is a view of an article which may be formed according to the method illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2; and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same. A It has heretofore been proposed to make objects of plastic composition the surfaces of which are variously colored by physically uniting them, as by cutting into the surface and inserting a different and differently colored Substance into the recess thus formed, or by placing at the bottom of a mold a powder or other mass of color and character different from that of the mass of the plastic that is employed to fill the moldl. The physical properties of the surface of the resulting product are, of course, different' at the differently colored portions of the surface and at their juncture and the colored portions are sharply defined and separated.

According to the present invention, a variously colored composition `of matter is chemically produced the surface of which is of uniform physical character and in which the colors blend into one another to produce a. pleasing color effect.

The invention is illustrated inconnection with a process for making a new phenol condensation product. A smalluantity of a condensation molding materia 2 is placed in irregular positions cated at 4, of the walls 6 only of a mold of irregular contour 8, a large quantity of like condensation molding material 10 then being introduced thereover. The two substances 2 and l0 are thus of the same character, but differently colored. The substance 10 need not necessarily be uniformly colored, so long as the color is different from the color of the substance 2 at the remaining portions of the walls. `At these remaining portions, indeed, several differently colored Substances may appear, although in the drawings, for simplicitys sake, but one differently colored substance is shown. Though by no means limited thereto, the molding materials may, for example, be black and brown partial reaction condensation products, either in the at portions only, indi- 4 form of a powder or a plastic sheet. If the sheet form is used, it should preferably be broken or out into small pieces before being introduced into the mold. The ingredients may both be powders or both sheet plastic or one may be a powder and the other a sheet plastic. .The sheet plastic may be utilized in unbroken, sheet form cut to size to fill the mold, a small quantity of the differently colored powder being introduced at scattered points of the wall of the mold. Indeed, the partial reaction products may be neither in the powder nor the sheet form. From some aspects of the invention, the ingredients may be other substances than condensation products, if they are plastic originally or if they may be rendered so, as by heat, provided that propertyof chemically uniting under treatment into a homogeneous mass. gredients may befree or they may contain socalled fillers, depending upon the nature of the desired ultimate product.

vThe materials in the mold are heated, causin them to soften or flux, and pressure is app ied, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to shape the mass to the contour of the mold. Further application of heat sets into operation a chemical reaction which-ultimately yields a hardened composition having the Wellknown properties of condensation and similar products of this character. The materials The, in

2 and 10 remain substantially in their respective original positions in the mold, thus forming substances having their respective colors, but by reason of the above-mentioned softening eftect and the chemical reaction, they become intermolded at their separating lines so as to produce a blending of the colors at their junction. The product is homogeneous throughout, being constituted of the main substance l() having integrally molded therewith, at portions only of substantially the surface only, a like substance 2 of different color and irregular contour. The mass is finally removed from the mold.

: Itl will be found that the surface is variously colored, dependin upon the location of the differently colore originally introduced ingredients, the colors blending into one another to produce a pleasing effect, and without any 'sharp line of demarcation between them. As the differently colored in* gredients'have the same chemical and physical properties, the surface of the resulting product is of uniform physical character.

Various articles of manufacture may be produced by the above-described method. depending upon the mold employed. The method is illustrated in connection with the formation of an insulating panel for an electric meter, shown in elevation in Fig. 3 and in section in Fig. 4. Metal inserts and the like, indicated at l2, may be molded into the panel by suitably positioning them in the mold prior to the molding operation.

Although the invention has been described for concreteness in connection with a method of makin a condensation product, it will be clear t iat this is for illustrative purposes purely and that the invention is of broader scope, unrestricted, except in so far as limitations may be specically imposed in the appended claim.

What is claimed as new is:

The method of makin a homogeneous composition of matter with lblended colors that. comprises placing a partial reaction condensation product in irregular masses in a mold of irregular contour so as not to cover entirely the bottom of the mold, placing a differently colored partial reaction condensation product in the mold over the irst-named condensation products/and so as to cover the portionsof the bottom of the mold not covered by the first-named condensation product, and applying heat and pressure to chemically intermold the condensation products at their juncture and to integrally unite them into a single mass, whereby the color of each condensation product and a blending of the colors at their juncturev are obtained.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 5th day of J anuary, 1920.

HAROLD N. MICHAELSEN. 

